12,500 POT PLANTS SEIZED; FEDS POINT TO MEXICAN CARTEL

WARNER SPRINGS -- Drug agents seized about 12,500 marijuana plants
yesterday in a field used by Mexican traffickers, who are finding it
easier to grow pot in the United States instead of smuggling it across
the border, federal officials said.

The yield was the largest disclosed in the county this year.
Authorities estimated the street value of the marijuana to be at least
$40 million.

No one was arrested during yesterday's operation, which began about
3:30 a.m.

Drug cartels have found there is less chance of getting caught by
growing marijuana on U.S. soil rather than smuggling it across the
U.S.-Mexico border, said Mark Thomas, a special agent with U.S.
Department of Interior's office of law enforcement and security.

Two years ago, state officials said Mexican cartels -- lured in part
by California's rich soil and remote forests -- grew approximately 74
percent of the marijuana plants seized in 2002.

"It was definitely a Mexican drug-trafficking organization site,"
Thomas said of yesterday's find on mountainous terrain covered by
manzanita. Documentation pertaining to the farm was written in Spanish
and the way the farm was set up was indicative of cartel control, he
said.

Thomas called the farm a sophisticated operation that stole water from
a nearby orchard. It was likely operating for about two years, said
sheriff's Deputy Steve Reed, who is assigned to the San Diego
Narcotics Task Force.

More than a dozen agents with the U.S. Department of Interior, Drug
Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and
the San Diego Narcotics Task Force took part in yesterday's raid.

Agents hiked rugged terrain to reach the area, which was along a ridge
line about eight miles east of Warner Springs. A UH-60 Black Hawk
circled above using infrared sensors to aid agents on the ground.

"It's a very large grow," Thomas said.

A tip from a confidential informant prompted at least two surveillance
flights over the area, confirming the growth area a half-mile south of
the Riverside County border, Thomas said.

Yesterday's find was the second large marijuana seizure in North
County this month. On July 2, agents from the county Narcotics Task
Force seized about 5,000 plants from a field on the outskirts of a
north Escondido subdivision.

Investigators believe those responsible for the illicit Escondido farm
had harvested up to 10,000 plants in recent days. It was not clear who
was behind that operation. No one was arrested.